The Stockpickr ToolKit, part I - 13247 views

11/15/06 - 10:43 AM EDT

Stockpickr started off as a tool for us to help our trading. We wanted a way to quickly see what the best hedge funds were in, and then what companies were potentially related to those stocks so we can have a number of ways to piggyback the best investors. We then kept expanding the functionality, depending on what we were interested in for our own trading and research, and finally decided to open it up to everyone, with the idea being that the more people involved in the sharing of ideas, the better the ideas will be. Here is part I of the ways in which Stockpickr can currently help come up with good trading and investing ideas.

Recommendations:
When you enter in your portfolio of stocks we look for portfolios that are related to yours. We look for Pro portfolios (the portfolios of the top hedge funds and mutual funds), top-rated portfolios, most viewed portfolios, recently added portfolios, etc. Then, based on portfolios related to yours, and various other criteria, we come up with a blended set of 5 recommendations ranging from conservative to speculative.

Browsing Pro Portfolios:
Using a dozen or so databases, both public and proprietary, we've come up with the top 1000 mutual funds and hedge funds and super investors (Warren Buffett, George Soros, etc) and have entered their top holdings into our database. Using Stockpickr you can easily browse these portfolios, drill down on stocks that interest you, check out overlapping funds and portfolios, etc.

Spotlight Portfolios:
Every day we will highlight 2-10 interesting portfolios that we think are topical or investment worthy. For instance, as I write this we have IBDs list of top-rated stocks (using their Canslim methodology) that are moving higher on unusual volume. We also have the list of top 10 stocks trading below their net current asset value and we have the top closed-end funds trading at the highest discount to their net asset value. Finally, for Today's Spotlights we also have a list of Alternative Energy Stocks that we think will do well

Top-rated Portfolios:
We keep track of the top-rated portfolios as ranked by the Stockpickr community. In addition to being a ranking mechanism, rating a portfolio also functions as a bookmark for you. All the portfolios you rate can be tracked on your home page at Stockpickr. Additionally, whenever a portfolio you've rated a "4" is updated, you receive an email informing you of the change.

Most Viewed portfolios:
Its interesting to follow the portfolios of the ones that have been the most viewed on the site. Currently, Warren Buffett is our most viewed portfolio with the "other oracle of Omaha", Wally Weitz, who runs the Weitz mutual funds, the second most viewed. And finally, our list of IBD Top 10 Low-priced stocks is number 3.

Tomorrow will be Part II of this list describing some of the other Stockpickr functions for getting new investing ideas, including: